While the Fourth Doctor and Romana are trapped in a time eddy, the
First, Second, Third and Fifth Doctors -- together with many of their
companions -- are lured by a mysterious figure to the forbidden Death
Zone on Gallifrey. There they make their way towards the Dark Tower in
which Rassilon is entombed, encountering a number of their deadliest
foes en route. When the Fifth Doctor finds a way to teleport himself to
the Capitol, however, he uncovers evidence of a traitor on the High
Council. All are embroiled in the Game of Rassilon, whose prize is
immortality itself.

Production

More than two years before Doctor Who's twentieth anniversary on
November 23rd, 1983, producer John Nathan-Turner was already planning
for the event. Originally, Nathan-Turner hoped to celebrate the
milestone during the programme's regular season, but was concerned
because the revamped schedule introduced for Season Nineteen meant that
Doctor Who started broadcasting in January and ran only thirteen
weeks. On July 21st, 1981, Nathan-Turner wrote to Head of Series David
Reid, requesting that Doctor Who revert to an autumn transmission
schedule by bringing the start of Season Twenty forward to the fall of
1982. A suitably celebratory adventure could then be included in the
programme's twenty-first season.

Unfortunately, Doctor Who's leading man, Peter Davison, was also
starring in a BBC sitcom called Sink Or Swim. This was recorded
during the summer for transmission in the autumn, and these dates would
have to be postponed to accommodate a revised Doctor Who
schedule. Reid discussed the matter with BBC1 Controller Alan Hart, but
Hart was not interested in delaying the successful Sink Or
Swim.

The BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Commission came to
terms on a coproduction arrangement for the anniversary special

Hart, however, was not unsympathetic towards Doctor Who, and
suggested that a special could be recorded to air between seasons in
November 1983. This was communicated to Nathan-Turner on August
25th. Hart suggested that the budget for two of Season Twenty's planned
twenty-eight episodes could be diverted to this special, in much the
same way that Season Nineteen had been truncated by two episodes in
order to fund the spin-off K-9 And Company. It was thought that
additional funding might come from BBC Enterprises, the commercial wing
of the Corporation, who reaped a significant profit from their
exploitation of Doctor Who. Nathan-Turner approached Bryon
Parkin, Head of BBC Enterprises, about participating in the special, but
although Parkin was interested, it soon became clear that an agreement
could not be finalised quickly enough.

Another potential partner in the venture was the Australian Broadcasting
Commission, which had been broadcasting Doctor Who since the
Sixties and had already coproduced such science-fiction fare as Day
Of The Triffids and the second season of Tripods with the
BBC. Nathan-Turner had courted the ABC since he took over Doctor
Who -- with Tegan Jovanka's nationality an explicit overture to the
Antipodean broadcaster -- but thus far, the BBC and ABC had been unable
to come to an agreement with regards to Doctor Who. Around May
1982, Hart approached the ABC about funding the anniversary programme.
This time, the two parties were able to come to terms on a coproduction
arrangement, with the ABC agreeing to contribute AUS$60,000 to the
Doctor Who special.

With funding now in place, Nathan-Turner turned to the business of
assembling the special. Following the lead of the tenth-anniversary
adventure, The Three Doctors, he wanted to
reunite the Doctor's various incarnations, and began by approaching the
programme's past stars. His first point of contact was Tom Baker (the
Fourth Doctor), whom Nathan-Turner felt might be the least interested in
such a proposition. Baker had only just left Doctor Who after
seven seasons, but in April indicated that he would consider appearing
in the anniversary special, depending on the script. Jon Pertwee (the
Third Doctor) and Patrick Troughton (the Second Doctor) were contacted
during the summer, although Troughton noted that his availability might
be an issue.

With the blessing of William Hartnell's widow, Richard
Hurndall was cast as the First Doctor

William Hartnell (the First Doctor) had passed away in 1975, so
Nathan-Turner decided that he would have to find another actor to play
the role. Nonetheless, he was eager that the special somehow acknowledge
this recasting; he would later receive the blessing of Hartnell's widow,
Heather. The two actors Nathan-Turner considered to replace Hartnell
were Geoffrey Bayldon (who had played Organon in The Creature From The Pit) and Richard
Hurndall (whom he had seen in the Assassin episode of Blake's
7, broadcast in November 1981). Nathan-Turner finally settled on
Hurndall, as he had come to feel that Bayldon's time as the lead actor
in the children's series Catweazle meant that he was too
recognisable to effectively slip into the role of the First Doctor.
Hurndall's career had begun with productions of Shakespeare, before
branching out into radio, film and television. Hurndall's enormous list
of credits included Spindoe, The Power Game, Oil Strike
North, Love In A Cold Climate, The Avengers,
Steptoe And Son and Doomwatch.

To write the special, script editor Eric Saward lobbied for Robert
Holmes, a former script editor who had not written for Doctor Who
since The Power Of Kroll in 1978. Saward
had recently viewed a number of old Doctor Who serials, and had
been impressed by Holmes' contributions to the programme, particularly
stories such as The Talons Of Weng-Chiang.
Nathan-Turner's preference since taking the reins of Doctor Who
had been to avoid the use of writers who had preceded him on the
programme, but he agreed to meet with Holmes.

For his part, Holmes also had reservations about participating in the
project. He had always disliked using other writers' characters and
plumbing past continuity, and he was well aware that the anniversary
special would force him to do both. Indeed, Nathan-Turner had already
decided that Anthony Ainley should return as the Master, while Saward
wanted to include the Cybermen in a major role. It was agreed, however,
that the Daleks would not be utilised: it was expected that much of the
special would be recorded on location, and the Daleks presented
extraordinary challenges beyond the confines of the studio.

On July 15th, the special was officially greenlighted by David Reid in
the form of a ninety-minute telefilm. On August 2nd, Holmes was
commissioned for a storyline entitled “The Six Doctors”,
which would also feature the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan, who had
travelled with the First Doctor, as well as Jamie McCrimmon, companion
to the Second Doctor. To account for the First Doctor's altered
appearance, Holmes devised the notion that he and Susan would actually
be cyborg infiltrators despatched by the Cybermen -- hence the
additional “Doctor” in his working title.

In Robert Holmes' storyline, the First Doctor and Susan
were cyborg infilitrators despatched by the Cybermen

As the summer progressed, Nathan-Turner began securing the services of
his large principal cast. The current Doctor Who regulars --
Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson -- were contracted on
July 29th, as were Pertwee and Ainley. They were followed on August 2nd
by Troughton (who had been assured that the filming dates for the
telefilm would not interfere with the April recording of his sitcom
Foxy Lady), and on August 18th by Carole Ann Ford (Susan).

Meanwhile, it had become clear to Saward that Holmes was struggling with
“The Six Doctors”. He recommended that a reserve storyline
be commissioned, and approached Holmes' predecessor as Doctor Who
script editor, Terrance Dicks, who had most recently written Season
Eighteen's State Of Decay. Dicks agreed to
step into the breach, should Holmes leave the project. Meanwhile,
Nathan-Turner discussed the special with Nicholas Courtney, who was
reprising his role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart for the forthcoming
Mawdryn Undead. Courtney was eager to take
part in “The Six Doctors”; he was contracted for the
telefilm on October 4th, two days before Hurndall was booked.

On October 13th, Holmes told Saward that he was unable to proceed with
“The Six Doctors”. Saward was understanding, and suggested
that Holmes might instead be interested in writing a wholly original
four-part story for Season Twenty-One (this would eventually become The Caves Of Androzani). Saward and
Nathan-Turner immediately met with Dicks, who would start from scratch
with a brand new storyline. Dicks' only request was that he be saddled
with neither the Daleks nor K-9. He was commissioned to prepare an
outline for the telefilm on October 18th.

In addition to the five Doctors, Tegan, Turlough, Susan, Jamie and the
Brigadier, Dicks was asked to include Sarah Jane Smith in his plans;
this would ensure that each Doctor was paired with one iconic companion.
Originally, Nathan-Turner had hoped that Lalla Ward would return to play
Romana opposite Baker's Doctor, since the two actors had been married in
1981. Unfortunately, their break-up -- revealed by the tabloids on May
1st, 1982 -- scuttled these plans, and Nathan-Turner's thoughts turned
to Elisabeth Sladen, who had recently returned to the role of Sarah Jane
in K-9 And Company. Nathan-Turner continued to be anxious that
Baker would opt out of the anniversary special, but to his surprise, the
actor remained interested, although he would not confirm his involvement
until Dicks' script was ready. There was also concern that the salary
necessary to secure Pertwee for both studio and location work would be
beyond the telefilm's budget.

Borusa was chosen as the villain to surprise viewers,
since the Master was felt to be too obvious

By the start of November, Dicks' storyline had gained the title The
Five Doctors; the notion of Hurndall playing an impostor First
Doctor had now been abandoned. Ironically, Dicks decided to draw upon
Holmes' own development of Gallifreyan culture in stories such as The Deadly Assassin, setting the action on
Gallifrey and incorporating crucial roles for both Borusa, the Doctor's
former teacher at the Time Lord Academy, and Rassilon, the legendary
founder of Time Lord society. Borusa presented Dicks with the
opportunity to surprise viewers with the identity of the mastermind
behind events, since the Master was felt to be too obvious a culprit
-- although he and the Cybermen would still appear as well. In addition,
Dicks included the Autons, well-remembered monsters which had been
introduced during his time as Doctor Who script editor. He was
also inspired by the imagery of Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland
To The Dark Tower Came, originally published in the 1855 collection
Men And Women.

Dicks' script for The Five Doctors was commissioned on November
16th. Baker was sent the first clutch of pages on December 9th, and the
actor indicated that he was agreeable to appearing. Things were looking
up: the issues with Pertwee's fee had also been resolved, the actor
having agreed to a pay cut because he was so eager to play the Doctor
once again.

The Five Doctors was allocated the production code 6K which had
previously been reserved for “The Return”, a Dalek story
intended to conclude Season Twenty which had been cancelled due to
industrial action. The Five Doctors would be directed by Peter
Moffatt, who had recently helmed Mawdryn
Undead. Moffatt was not Nathan-Turner's first choice: he had
originally approached Waris Hussein -- who had directed the very first
Doctor Who serial, 100,000 BC -- but
although Hussein considered the proposal, the two had not been able to
come to terms. Nathan-Turner had then approached Doctor Who
veteran Douglas Camfield, whose last work had been on 1976's The Seeds Of Doom. However, Nathan-Turner had
previously refused an inquiry Camfield had made about returning to
Doctor Who; still hurt by this rejection, Camfield had
reluctantly declined the new offer.

Since the Fourth Doctor was arguably the most popular,
Terrance Dicks assigned him the strongest role in the script

Since Baker's Fourth Doctor was arguably the most popular of the five
incarnations, Dicks decided to assign him the strongest role in the
script. It would be the Fourth Doctor who would travel to the Capitol
using the Master's recall device and unmask Borusa as the traitor,
although Dicks wanted to portray events as if this Doctor might actually
be the villain. The First Doctor, on the other hand, would have a
comparatively minor role: he would remain in the TARDIS with Susan and
Turlough while the Second, Third and Fifth Doctors travelled via the
three different routes to the Dark Tower. Several characters from the
Season Twenty story Arc Of Infinity, also
set on Gallifrey, were added to the script; in addition to Borusa (now
Lord President, as in that serial), these included Chancellor Thalia,
Commander Maxil and the Castellan. It was agreed that Kamelion, a new
robot companion introduced in The King's
Demons (now the final story of Season Twenty after the loss of
“The Return”) would not feature in The Five
Doctors.

Towards the end of December, problems with the cast began to surface.
First, it became apparent that Frazer Hines would not able to reprise
the role of Jamie McCrimmon, due to his obligations to the soap opera
Emmerdale Farm. Dicks consequently adjusted his script to pair
the Brigadier with the Second Doctor; it was now hoped that there might
be money available to fly Katy Manning back from Australia to play Jo
Grant opposite the Third Doctor.

Then, on December 29th, Nathan-Turner was flabbergasted to learn that
Baker had changed his mind, and was no longer interested in appearing in
The Five Doctors. Baker subsequently visited Nathan-Turner in
person to explain that he could not bear returning to the programme that
he had just left after so many years. However, he did consent to the
idea of incorporating material from Shada,
the original finale of Season Seventeen which had been abandoned partway
through recording due to labour strife. Nathan-Turner had already
investigated this option as a back-up plan to ensure that the Fourth
Doctor was represented in the telefilm, and the use of these scenes was
cleared on January 10th, 1983.

The loss of Baker forced Dicks to perform substantial rewrites on the
script. The focus now shifted to the current Doctor, with the fifth
incarnation taking over the Fourth Doctor's investigation in the
Capitol. However, the subplot concerning this Doctor's possible villainy
was deleted, as it was felt that it was not appropriate to Davison's
portrayal of the Time Lord. Sarah Jane would now accompany the Third
Doctor, while the First Doctor would journey with Tegan to the Tower of
Rassilon, and Turlough and Susan would remain behind in the TARDIS. The
Fourth Doctor and Romana would now be trapped in a “time
eddy”; Dicks' idea was that this halted the process of each Doctor
being kidnapped, explaining why the Fifth Doctor did not fall victim to
the Time Scoop.

It was briefly hoped that John Levene might appear as
Benton in the scene at UNIT HQ

The cast remained in flux throughout early 1983. It was briefly hoped
that John Levene might be able to appear as Benton (now promoted to
sergeant major) in the scene at UNIT HQ. Ian Marter was also contacted
about reprising his role as Harry Sullivan, but the actor had
commitments in New Zealand. Of the four guest artistes from Arc Of Infinity invited back for The Five
Doctors, only Paul Jerricho (the Castellan) was able to accept. For
the fourth time in four appearances, Borusa would assume a regenerated
form, with Philip Latham taking over for Leonard Sachs. The
unavailability of Elspet Grey and Colin Baker meant that Chancellor
Thalia and Commander Maxil would be replaced with two new characters:
Chancellor Flavia (played by Dinah Sheridan) and an anonymous Commander
(Stuart Blake).

On February 11th, writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln agreed that
their beloved Troughton-era monster, the Yeti, could appear in The
Five Doctors. By now, it had also been decided that a lone Dalek
should appear in the story, in a scene that could be recorded in the
studio. However, Saward had dropped the sequence involving the Autons,
which he felt was too long and costly. This would have seen Sarah Jane
materialise in the Death Zone in a ruined replica of a high street. A
collection of fallen mannequins is revealed to be a battalion of Autons,
and Sarah Jane is saved by the Third Doctor in Bessie.

During February, Deborah Watling (Victoria Waterfield), Wendy Padbury
(Zoe Heriot), Caroline John (Liz Shaw) and Richard Franklin (Mike Yates)
all agreed to make cameo appearances as phantom images in the Dark Tower;
Watling, Padbury and John were contracted on February 21st.
Unfortunately, Watling was cast in The Dave Allen Show several
days later, and reluctantly backed out of The Five Doctors.
Another former companion, Louise Jameson (Leela), offered her services
for the telefilm, but there was no opportunity to insert her into the
storyline.

Location filming largely took place in Gwynedd, Wales, beginning on
March 5th when the Eye of Orion scenes were recorded at Plas Brondanw
in Llanfrothen, the estate of Lady Annabel Williams-Ellis. (Her late
husband, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, was the architect who had designed
Portmeirion, the Italianate village at which The
Masque Of Mandragora had been filmed.) Also completed at Plas
Brondanw was the glimpse of the First Doctor in the rose garden, marking
Richard Hurndall's first performance in the role.

John Nathan-Turner was able to arrange for Frazer Hines to
replace Deborah Watling in the Dark Tower sequence

On March 7th, Nathan-Turner was able to arrange for Frazer Hines to be
released briefly from Emmerdale Farm so that he could replace
Watling in the Dark Tower sequence. Originally, the phantoms were
identified when Victoria referred to Lethbridge-Stewart as
“Brigadier” instead of “Colonel” (the
character's promotion having occurred after Watling's departure from
Doctor Who); now the Doctor would recall that the Time Lords had
erased Jamie and Zoe's memories of their travels in the TARDIS, which
meant that they shouldn't recognise Lethbridge-Stewart at all. As Dicks
completed the final rewrites necessary for The Five Doctors, he
also brought to a close his association with televised Doctor
Who. He would continue to be involved in the writing of spin-off
media, however, and became a frequent contributor to the range of
Doctor Who DVDs.

The 7th was also the first of three consecutive days at Carreg Y Foel
Grom near Ffestiniog, where scenes in the wasteland of the Death Zone
were filmed. More of this material was recorded at the nearby Manod
Quarry on the 10th and 11th. This included the subterranean scene
involving the Yeti -- the costume for which was a relic from 1968's The Web Of Fear, and which was now found to be
infested with fleas. The Raston Robot sequence was filmed at Manod, with
Nathan-Turner stepping into the director's shoes for some second-unit
shots due to the large amount of material that needed to be captured.
By now, it had been learned that the Eye of Orion footage had been
irreparably damaged, forcing the production team to return to Plas
Brondanw for a remount on the 11th. Strickson had to cut short a holiday
in order to return to Wales.

Further work at Manod Quarry took place on March 13th and 14th,
including the scene of the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane reaching the Dark
Tower. As scripted, this involved the Doctor constructing a makeshift
hang-glider using the Raston Robot's spare equipment and his own cloak.
Unfortunately, the visual effects department had been unable to
construct a realistic prop, and Pertwee refused to go ahead with the
scene, which he felt to be preposterous. Moffatt and Nathan-Turner
worked together to come up with an alternative version of the sequence,
with the Doctor now throwing a line across to the Dark Tower
instead.

The last day of filming in Wales was March 15th, with the remaining
Death Zone material completed at Cwm Bychan near Llanbedr. Moffatt's
team then returned to England for additional recording on the 17th.
Denham Green in Buckinghamshire provided two locations: Tilehouse Lane
was the roadway from which the Third Doctor is abducted, while Haylings
House, a disused building owned by the Ministry of Defence, posed as
UNIT HQ. Sarah Jane's home and its environs was actually on West Common
Road in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Dicks had relented in his objection to the
use of K-9 in this scene; John Leeson returned to provide the robot
dog's voice.

In case Tom Baker did not appear at the photocall, a wax
replica from Madame Tussauds was available

The same day, a photocall was held with Davison, Pertwee, Troughton,
Hurndall, Ford, Courtney, Sladen and the K-9 prop. Baker had also
promised to attend this event, but did not appear. Suspecting that
this might occur, Nathan-Turner had arranged for a wax replica of the
actor in costume, normally on display at Madame Tussauds, to be
available. The presence of the dummy was a source of much merriment for
the cast.

One day at the Ealing Television Film Studios then took place on March
18th, for the scene of the Doctor and Sarah Jane on the roof of the Dark
Tower, as well as the material at UNIT HQ. The Five Doctors then
moved into BBC Television Centre Studio 6 for three days beginning on
the 29th. The set for the TARDIS console room was needed throughout the
block, while the first two days otherwise concentrated on scenes in the
Capitol, including Borusa's secret sanctum. Also completed on the 30th
was the First Doctor and Susan's encounter with the Dalek. The final
day, March 31st, was dedicated to sequences set in the Dark Tower.

In post-production, a clip from the final episode of The Dalek Invasion Of Earth was added to The
Five Doctors as a pre-titles sequence, ensuring that Hartnell had a
presence in the special. This was sepia-tinted by video effects designer
Dave Chapman, to make the transition from monochrome to colour less
jarring. For the Fourth Doctor and Romana's release from the time eddy,
an extract from Shada part one, in which
the pair approach the gates of Cambridge, had originally been selected.
However, Nathan-Turner was keen to depict all the Doctors departing in
the TARDIS, and so a clip from episode three was used instead, even
though it did not match up as well with the abduction sequence (which
was also taken from the opening installment). Meanwhile, composer Peter
Howell devised a special version of the Doctor Who theme for the
closing titles, combining the original Delia Derbyshire version with the
contemporary arrangement devised by Howell himself.

The Five Doctors was the first
Doctor Who episode to premiere outside the
UK

Although it was originally hoped that The Five Doctors would air
on November 23rd to precisely mark the twentieth anniversary of
Doctor Who, this was ultimately delayed by two days so that it
could be transmitted as part of the BBC's Children In Need
charity appeal. This meant that, for the first time ever, an episode of
Doctor Who would premiere outside the UK, as PBS station WTTW in
Chicago transmitted The Five Doctors on the anniversary date
itself, to coincide with the Spirit of the Light convention about to
take place in that city.

The Five Doctors was promoted with an appearance on the front
cover of the Radio Times, its first since the debut of Season
Eleven ten years earlier, and the only time during the Eighties that
the programme would be honoured in this way. The Target novelisation of
The Five Doctors was originally scheduled for release on November
24th, with the idea that this would be the day after transmission. In
the event, it actually began appearing on store shelves two weeks before
the telefilm's airdate, much to Nathan-Turner's dismay. This was the
only instance in which a Doctor Who novelisation was published in
advance of a story's broadcast.